The Plural of 'Apocalypse'
by Random Artemis
Summary: In which Mina, Hotaru, Dorothy, and the boys deal with Magic, Soul Bonding, Mysterious Deaths, Evil Math Homework, and other high school related activities. Sequel to 'The Necessary Evils'.
1. Start at the Beginning

Summary: In Which Mina, Hotaru, the boys and Dorothy deal with Magic, Soul-Bonds, Mysterious Deaths, Evil Math Homework, and other typicalities of High School. Sequel to "The Necessary Evils".  
  
Author's Notes: ATTN! This is a SEQUEL. It is possible to follow the events of this story if you haven't read 'The Necessary Evils' but it won't be easy. However, if you're too lazy to go read that one, there's a handy-dandy character guide at the bottom of the chapter to help get you caught up with everyone.  
  
Prologue:  
  
Present Day (About six months after the epilogue of "Necessary Evils")  
  
The high, mournful wail of a soprano saxophone cut though the smoky air as the song drew to a close. Most of the patrons began to clap, or at least looked up from their drinks to watch as the band struck up another, more upbeat, tune. The tall blonde sitting at the bar, however, didn't flinch; her eyes blearily focused on the whisky in front of her. It was past happy-hour, but not quite time for the evening crowd to begin filling the bar, so she had the bored bartender all to herself as the cocktail waitresses took care of the four or so couples sitting at tables and listening to the band.   
  
The bartender was a man in his late twenties, or early thirties, and droopy eyes, giving him a continually sleepy look. His name was Frank, and all he could think about was counting the minutes in the two hours before his shift ended. He sighed, began wiping down the bar, again, and resolved himself to yet another boring day of not many customers, and not enough tips.   
  
"Another whisky." The blonde said, her voice low and husky from sitting in a smoky room all morning, and most of the afternoon too. Frank nodded, turning to the mirrored wall of alcohol behind the bar, covertly studying the woman reflected on the surface. She was tall, probably taller than he was, with pale blond hair, light blue eyes, rather distinctive eyebrows, and perfect posture.   
  
Though she stood (or rather, sat) like a queen, she was rather, well, disheveled, to put it nicely. Her hair was mussed, and seemed to have globs of something unpleasant in it, her clothes were torn, and dirty, and she had scrapes and scratches all over her arms and face, as well as rapidly fading bruises.   
  
Normally, he would have assumed she'd been beaten, and urged her to report it to the proper authorities, but the look she shot him as he opened his mouth (eyes narrowed, jaw clenched) stalled him long enough for her to snap; "Whisky. Now."   
  
Frank was not a stupid man. He shut his mouth, and got her the drink.  
  
Then, for the next few hours, she proceeded to get smashingly drunk. That's why, when he set the heavy glass down in front of her, he jumped when; instead of ignoring him, she began to speak.  
  
Her voice was heavy, and a little slow, but considering the amount of alcohol she'd ingested, he was honestly surprised that she was still capable of speech.  
  
"Do I look like a high school student to you?" She asked. Well, slurred is more accurate. Frank looked back at her blankly. Oookay. This was different. She didn't seem to care that he didn't answer, as she was still staring down at her drink. "Hell, I don't look like a magical warrior either, do I?" She growled, flicking her eyes up briefly to meet Frank's confused stare.  
  
"Damn," she ran a hand though her hair, wincing as her fingers caught in the tangles, "I guess we could do with some handy-dandy exposition for those of you who weren't there at the beginning of this story." She said dryly.  
  
The bartender backed away from the bar a little, leaning against the back wall. Some drunks said the weirdest things when they needed to talk themselves out, and this one looked as if it had been a long haul. Oh well, he thought, it still beats cleaning the bar again.  
  
"So anyway," she rambled, her story beginning to pick up steam, "It had been about six months or so since we'd closed the portal to the negaverse, which is sort of a hell-dimension of sorts, sorted out some tangled romances, and gotten some super-powered time travelers all settled into the modern world. Things were going well, y'know? A little too well on the part of Mina and Quat if you ask me, I swear, those two are nauseating, but we were, well, happy. Or as close to happy as someone can get nowadays."  
  
Four months ago:  
  
"Duuuoooooo!" Wufei's outraged yowl echoed down the hallway to the kitchen, where Duo, Minako, Dorothy, and Trowa had already settled down to breakfast. The aforementioned prankster looked up, bewildered, then his eyes widened, and he tried valiantly to suppress his laugher. He failed spectacularly.   
  
At Duo's outburst all heads had swiveled to the door just in time to see Wufei, covered from head to toe in honey and bright yellow feathers stalk though the door, katana in hand.   
  
Duo, suddenly realizing Wufei's intent to chop him into itty-bitty little pieces, yelped and dove from his chair, avoiding the sword stroke by a few millimeters. They continued a rather destructive game of cat-and-mouse around the kitchen, until most of the furniture had been destroyed. All cover gone, Duo threw open the back door and sprinted away into the yard, with Wufei in hot pursuit. The three remaining in the kitchen were silent for about a minute, before Mina, cocking her head to one side, said; "Well, that worked better than expected."   
  
Dorothy started laughing, and she and Mina exchanged a high five.   
  
Trowa, still in his seat at the now destroyed table hid his smile behind his teacup as he calmly continued sipping his drink.   
  
Duo had planted a camera in the girls' bathroom and sold the photos to a site called "Blondes gone Wild" on the web. Mina was enraged at the exposure. Dorothy was pissed about not getting a cut of the profits.  
  
It had been about two months since they'd finished taking apart OZ, and when no new enemy presented itself, they settled into a normal, everyday routine. At first it was nice to have a break, pretend they were normal teenagers, but frankly, after about a week, it was just BORING. So the ongoing prank war of Duo vs. everyone else began, and Quatre began searching for a new project for the unique skill set their little group possessed. After all, one could live with pink hair for a while, but no one, no matter how rich, could afford to keep replacing furniture at the rate that it was currently being destroyed. He'd been closeted in his office for the past two days, (not just to avoid Duo, he insisted) and called a meeting for that afternoon.  
  
However, Dorothy and Mina weren't above getting a little revenge in the impending hours.   
  
Present Day  
  
Frank glanced at the calendar. Friday the thirteenth. He should have known. Friday 13th's always bring out the crazies.  
  
"That was hic when Quat told us he'd dug up the coordinates to the old crystal palace. There were hic some reports of strange things, and a buncha unexplained deaths in the area, so we should go an' investigate." Dorothy slurred, leaning forward on the barstool. "That's when all this…" she gestured to herself, particularly the bruises, torn clothing and goop in her hair. "…began."  
  
Thanks for reading! Please review!  
  
Notes:  
  
This is a SEQUEL, so if you're incredibly confused, read the first part "The Necessary Evils" right here on ff.net, full of action, mystery, romance, and plot-twisty goodness.   
  
Or, if you're too lazy, here's a quick synopsis on Our Heroes:  
  
Hotaru: Has awakened the awesome destructive force of Saturn through her twin bond with Duo. She has an awkward, but intense relationship with Heero Yuy that seems to involve lots of misunderstandings and threats. She's still altogether too angsty and jumps to conclusions too often, but is working on it.  
  
Minako: Has also had a power boost mirroring the dramatic DECREASE in the number of scouts (well, alive at the moment anyway). She's still the happy, cheerful (and slightly manic) Venus, but has a darker, sadder side after witnessing the slaughter of her best friends. She holds that side back through her friendship with Hotaru and her soul bond with the gentlest pilot, Quatre. Doesn't like Heero or Wufei very much, but puts up with them because Hotaru likes them for some reason.  
  
Heero: Found to be part machine, relying on his beloved laptop to suppress his emotions and super-charge his strength and endurance. His emotions have been slowly returning after he promised Hotaru he'd stop using that part of his programming. He is now really, really confused.   
  
Quatre: The pretty-boy pilot still plays peacemaker, and has now resolved his feelings for Mina through the soul bond formed by their twin powers of empathy (hers in senshi 'power of love' and his through his 'space heart').  
  
Wufei: Warmed to Hotaru as she reminded him of Meiran, his dead first love, but is annoyed by Mina. He has some pretty confused feelings about Hotaru, and is beginning to regret passively watching Heero and Hotaru form a relationship.  
  
Duo: The wisecracking trickster is alive and well, and out in force with his ancient alter-ego Shini. Now he really can call himself the god of death. He is considering becoming protective and keeping Heero's hands OFF HIS TWIN.  
  
Trowa: Not much happened to Trowa. Sorry.  
  
Iria (Quatre's sister): Found out about everything. The poor dear really needs a drink.  
  
Dorothy/Uranus: The former aristocrat and war-monger, has been found to be the latest incarnation of the Senshi Uranus. All the senshi were reborn in the future, but at different times, so the amount of magic in the world, which stays constant at all times, would overwhelm the one or two senshi born to each generation, driving them to madness, or an early grave. Hotaru and Mina helped unlock some of her old memories, but Dorothy, for the most part, is perfectly happy remaining herself, without any old personalities emerging. 


	2. Premonitions of Doom

Notes: Okay, so the dream sequence is a bit of a BtVS rip, but it's more of a reference than a major plot device (so far at least). Not much action in this chapter, mostly exposition and setup. Action next chapter though!

Chapter One:

Six months earlier:

_The library smells like books_, Hotaru thought, all musty paper, pine shelves and faint mildew from a poorly done roof repair that had leaked all over most of the encyclopedias in the back room. She loved it.

Her favorite thing to do on a rainy afternoon was to curl up with a classic novel in the fourth-floor reading room. She went there to be alone, mostly.

She didn't like to get too close to other people. It's not that she didn't like people, just what happened when she touched them. With every casual brush against a stranger, on the bus, in class, and suddenly, she would KNOW things. A phone number. A favorite song. A sibling's name. Surface thoughts, mostly, but still uncomfortable, and frankly, embarrassing.

She shifted in the large, tattered armchair, curling around her book, twisting her long red hair around her fingers in an unconscious habit she'd had since she was little.

Hotaru's heart sped up… something was wrong here.

"Felicia?" called Mrs. Cummings, the elderly librarian, "Felicia, darling, we're closing in five minutes."

"All right." She replied, not sure if Mrs. Cummings was listening over the intercom or not, but still wanting to be polite. She unfolded her long legs from under her, and began to walk toward the stacks to replace her book.

'No!' Hotaru thought, trying to turn her unfamiliar body back toward the stairs. She kept walking forward, brushing her hair impatiently back over her shoulder.

Hotaru wasn't Hotaru anymore.

"Hey, Taru. You okay?" Mina asked, looking at Hotaru over their morning tea. (Mina was NOT allowed any form of coffee under any circumstances. They'd found that out the hard way through a rather messy incident involving Senshi power and the espresso machine.)

Hotaru shrugged, and rubbed at her eyes, as if she could wipe the dark circles away, and the memories that went with them. She sipped her lukewarm mint tea (Hotaru WAS allowed coffee, but she didn't like it.) and groaned, "No."

"Another one?" Mina winced, scruching up her pert nose.

"Yeah. You too?"

She shook her head, then paused, thinking. "Not this time. I'll have to check with Dorothy, but Quatre woke up screaming two nights ago, when you had the last one."

"Oh." Hotaru replied, her voice still a little groggy, "I thought you two were just… ah, forget I said that."

Present

Dorothy, more than a little drunk at this point, leaned over her glass and stared earnestly into Frank, the bartender's, eyes. "We'd been having bad dreams, all of us. Well, not Heero, who has the psychic ability of roadkill, and even then, only if that roadkill has been dead for a very long time. They weren't all that frequent for me, but Hotaru has more psychic ability than the rest of us."

She leaned back on her stool, and made a large sweeping motion with her arm, one of those grand gestures that only televangelists and the extremely drunk seem to be able to make. "Of course, the dreams should have been a dead giveaway that this was going to end badly, but noooo, we went anyway."

Six months ago:

The plane ride to Tokyo was rather quiet. _Of course_, Heero thought, _That is probably due to Wufei restraining and gagging Duo within an hour of takeoff._

Though he'd been cleared of the blame for the hair-dying incident, Wufei was still rather cranky with Duo for starting the inane prank war in the first place. Duo (who, like Mina, was not allowed caffeine at all) had somehow managed to get his hands on a can of soda before the flight.

Jolt soda.

Heero looked over to where Duo was still bouncing a little in his seat, despite being duct-taped firmly to his chair. Shaking his head, Heero concluded it was probably for the best. Duo and caffeine didn't mix in the best of circumstances, but Duo and caffeine in an extremely confined space was a recipe for disaster.

Wufei was still muttering indignantly about 'braided bakas' about half an hour after he'd subdued Duo, so Hotaru had taken him over to the other end of the plane to try and calm him down. They were still back there, dark heads bent together in quiet conversation as she smiled gently up at the slightly taller boy. Heero fought off a quick spasm of jealousy that clenched at the pit of his stomach.

_How long has it been since she's smiled? _He wondered, realizing how tired and drawn she'd looked for the past month or so. _Is it something to do with me?_

If she'd expected a huge personality shift when he'd stopped using the laptop to suppress his emotions, she'd been sorely mistaken. After a bit of practice, it seemed he was quite able to suppress his emotions all on his own.

Or at least keep up the appearance of doing so.

Heero resisted the urge to bury his head in his hands and groan, settling instead for glaring at Wufei as he brushed Hotaru's hair out of her smiling face, a slow burn in his deep blue eyes.

"You look tired."

"Thanks. You look nice today too."

"You know that's not what I meant. Have you had another nightmare?"

Hotaru shrugged. Wufei took that as a yes.

"They seem to be getting more frequent."

Hotaru didn't reply, Wufei meant well, but he didn't seem to understand (or maybe didn't WANT to understand) that her dreams weren't really something she could control.

"Well?" Wufei prodded after the silence stretched out over a long moment, "Aren't you a little worried, considering what happened the last time you had… nighttime visitors?" He stumbled a little over a polite way to say 'the spirit of your dead friend'.

Hotaru let out a deep breath, shoulders slumping. "Iria thinks I'm over-reacting." She said, referring to Quatre's sister, their resident doctor, "She says it's post-traumatic stress affecting us. I guess that would make sense, I mean, it's not as if any of us have had the exact same dream."

Wufei frowned, "Then why hasn't Heero had any of these nightmares? He's had the most battle time out of all of us, at least out of the pilots."

Hotaru grinned wryly, "Iria actually had a pretty good explanation for that one. She says he's so fucked up that his brain doesn't actually function like us normal folks anymore."

Wufei smiled back at her, reaching over to brush an errant strand of hair out of her eyes. "We're normal?"

She laughed.

"But," He continued, "I don't think you should just brush off these dreams like they're nothing." His eyes flicked over to Heero momentarily, "Remember, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't anyone out to get you."

Quatre's eyes moved from Heero, to Hotaru, to Wufei, finally resting back on Heero who was seething silently as Wufei fussed over Hotaru near the back of the plane. Quatre, sitting near the middle, could make out faint strains of the conversation over the faint hum of the plane engines, and Mina's soft breathing as she dozed, stretched across his lap, and the two seats adjacent to it. It was completely innocent, Wufei worrying about the strange dreams, and Hotaru, a little exasperated, but amused, tried to reassure him.

However, from Heero's point of view, up near the front of the plane next to the hyperactive (but thankfully tied down) Duo, it looked considerably less than platonic.

Heero and Hotaru's relationship, while still extremely shaky, had been progressing very slowly, but steadily. At least until these strange dreams had started, interrupting sleep, and making Hotaru snappish and worried. Not sure what to do, Heero seemed to retreat back behind his emotionless façade, pulling away. Hotaru was then frustrated by getting the cold shoulder from Heero, which, of course, resulted in her baiting him further, trying to get SOME sort of reaction out of the perfect soldier, if only annoyance. Instead, it drove him further into himself, creating a vicious cycle, spiraling down with their relationship. It also didn't help that Heero, used to being the strongest and most efficient pilot, was having a lot of trouble getting used to his vastly decreased power levels. Iria was helping him wean himself off using his programming and power boosts. Now, with Hotaru mad at him, it seemed that he was losing his motivation to stop programming out his emotions entirely.

This latest glaring match seemed promising though. If Heero could still muster up a death glare for Wufei, then he still felt something for Hotaru. He hadn't withdrawn totally.

Maybe this was a good thing. They seemed to be the type of couple that thrived on adversity.

Maybe.

For now, there was trouble in paradise.

Quatre's pilot pulled off the runway on Tokyo International Air/Spaceport to allow his passengers to de-board. Heero exited first, scowling that Quatre had not allowed HIM to fly the jet. They were trying to keep a low profile after all, and a teenager flying an (overseas-capable?) jet would have raised eyebrows, not to mention inconvenient questions. Heero's fingers still itched for the controls though. Quatre had laughed, not sympathetic at all (all due to Mina's influence, Heero had no doubt), and said he was just being a control freak. Heero almost felt insulted. He thought it was perfectly reasonable not to trust his life to someone he didn't know, and hadn't personally drug tested.

Once his feet were back on the ground, he allowed himself a tight smirk, he'd hacked the coordinates of crystal Tokyo last night, so there was no uncertainty remaining.

He was definitely driving.

As Heero rocketed off to the car rental parking lot, Mina rolled her eyes and helped Quatre collect their things. Despite living together for a few months, and dating one of Heero's best (and only) friends, Mina and Heero had yet to learn to like each other. Mina placed this blame squarely on Heero. (Come on, like she was going to blame herself for his horrid behavior)

_Even Hotaru can barely stand him lately, and they're supposed to be dating! Well… if whatever mutated form of flirting/ trying to kill each other/ making out when they think we're not looking, counts. _(Mina was either very optimistic on Hotaru's behalf, or just so much of a perv that she couldn't imagine a relationship without the smoochies because there was certainly none of that going on as of late)

Mina finished shoving her magazine into her purse and climbed down the stairs in time to see Heero disappear into the terminal. She snorted, "Idiot" she mumbled, sleepily stretching. She was about to gather her suitcases from the cargo area under the plane, when a sudden gust of wind blew a piece of paper into her face mid-yawn.

"What-the-…" She sputtered, dropping her bag, and batting at her face in a panic. It turned out to be a set of co-ordinates, and a small road map. "Hmm." Mina said, "Must be the directions to the site. Heero must have dropped it in his freaking sprint to get off the damn plane." (Mina, though usually chipper, is not at her best first thing after waking up from a nap.)

She grinned evilly, shoving the paper into her pocket. _Lets see how far you get without this._

She cackled a little more, savoring her small triumph, ignoring Trowa's raised eyebrow, and bent down to pick up the contents of her carry-on, now scattered all over the tarmac.

The laughter cut off abruptly.

_No._ Mina insisted to herself. _No. This is NOT happening._

The wind toyed with the magazine mockingly, lifting the corners slightly, but not actually turning the pages. The magazine was one of Quatre's, a three-year-old architectural digest that had featured a communications tower of his in a long, flattering article. Quatre had been rather pleased with the article, reading it over several times, never losing the thrill of seeing his building praised. Logically, it made sense, that the magazine would fall open to the most creased part of it's spine.

Mina groaned. The communications tower had been built on a rather tricky site, and at the end of the article it had a small blurb about upcoming projects on notoriously difficult land, but in valuable location.

One plan was in Tokyo, a large complex of about ten buildings.

She reluctantly dug the coordinates Heero had dropped out of her pocket.

_Why me???? _She thought, _Why don't the freaky-ass, one-in-a-million coincidence plot-devices ever happen to anyone else?_

The coordinates matched.

"Umm… guys? I think we have a problem."

In the time it had taken to drive to the site, a sullen Heero having reclaimed his precious directions from a reluctant Mina, the entire group had time to mull over Mina's discovery.

Mina was worried and a little annoyed that she was constantly the bearer of disturbing news. Quatre was enthusiastic, reasoning that the strange reports were probably from human intervention than any mystical source. Wufei agreed with Quatre, but worried about the effect of the inherent energy of the site on the people living there. Dorothy was unfazed, sarcastic and bored, causing Wufei to repeatedly ask if she was REALLY needed on this mission. Duo, still twitching from his caffeine buzz, wanted to know if he could blow the building up. (The only thing he missed about OZ was ample opportunity to blow things up.) Hotaru was brooding out the window, convinced there was some sort of doomsday plot afoot, and, as usual, if Heero or Trowa had opinions, they kept them to themselves.

As they jerked to a stop, Heero's stone expression cracked a little, his eyes filling with horror.

Dorothy, jolted awake, squinted at the tinted windows of the van, trying to figure out why they'd stopped.

"Are we here?" She asked, a little disturbed at the expression of collective terror that had filled the faces of the menfolk. She read the sign standing by the gate, and whimpered a little.

"Peacecraft Academy." She read out loud. "Please, please, PLEASE tell me that's not a high school." She groaned.

"Okay," Trowa replied, his voice steady, not betraying the grimace on his face. "That's not a high school."

End chappie.

Next chapter preview:

We find out how the gang gets roped into the high-school life! Eeeevil rears it's ugly head yet again!

"Okay, that's not a high school."

"Hah."

"No, it's really not."

"Really?"

"It's hell with fluorescent lighting."

Oookay, notes… readreadreadreadreadreadreviewreviewreviewreview

Iria may be taking a break for this installment, I'm trying to pare down the number of characters, unless, of course there are some Iria fans out there who would like to try and get her a few scenes.

At the moment the roster stands as follows: (As if anyone actually reads this anyhow)

Main Characters:

Ladies: Hotaru, Mina, Dorothy

Gents: Heero, Duo, Quatre, Wufei, Trowa

As well as some mystery eeeeeevilness, assorted teachers and students….

Optional cameo characters: Iria, Relena (possible for cameo, I don't think I could write her as a regular without totally overhauling her personality into my Relena from 'Don't Tell Me')

So… again, sorry about the long wait. I'm trying to get these out as fast as I can, but there's the sad fact of school (architecture, 2nd year, bruuuuutal work load. To think, my friend in Med school not pre-med. Med. told me that MY program was insane. Sheesh.) Work, (Gotta pay rent/food/heat somehow!), Training(Rowing team… because I thought it would be a good idea to work out at five in the a.m! sarcasm), and a pathetic attempt at a social life take a fair bit of time.


End file.
